North of Target

In our business, we are often
asked, “What is the biggest
mistake salespeople make?” Of
course, we tend to term them
“opportunity areas” rather than
“mistakes” but whatever you want
to call them, the most common is
the area of questioning. The
second area that goes hand-in-
hand with number one would bthe seeming inability of typical
sales professionals to quit talking
and listen after they’ve asked great
questions!
The average salesperson is
high in the “D & I” of the DiSC
personality assessment, which
means that they are “dominant”
and “influential” . . . they like to control their environment and
generally, they love to talk (to learn more about the
DiSC profile, send us an e-mail for a sample). While
these are critical personality traits for a sales
professional to possess, they can also be their
Achilles heel. In a meeting with the prospect, they
think that selling is best done by being the one who
talks the most. Their best definition of
communication is “taking turns talking”!
The shortest course on selling is “ask questions
and shut up”. Good use of open ended, closed and
probing questions allows you to accurately determine
your prospect’s priorities, challenges and needs.
How can you truly provide a solution, which is an
overused word in sales these days, without knowing
precisely what the problems are and where the
opportunities are? You should never go into a sales
presentation without a list of well thought out
questions. At Northbound, we’re hesitant to even
use the term “presentation” as it implies that the
salesperson is “presenting” while the prospect
carefully listens while it should be just the opposite.
Our partners in e-learning solutions, CRK
Interactive, recommend in a Customer Focused Sales
Interview, that the prospect should be talking over
two-thirds of the time. Of course, there is much
more to learn about performing this process
properly. Northbound Learning’s Customer-Centric
SellingTM program includes a solid skills building
segment in this area. For more information, visit
http://www.northboundlearning.com/programs.html.
To experience a free e-learning demonstration in this
area from our partners, click or visit http://
www.crkinteractive.com/store-product.asp?
Category_ID=22&Product_ID=41
- Michael Caron